Hey everyone!

Sorry my updates are so scattered. I'm usually still writing RIGHT before I post the new chapters, finishing up the chapter itself, adding to the detail, correcting stuff. I don't have anyone else look at it, so you all are the first. This means I try my best to get it right the first time I post new material. Often I'm re-reading the previous chapters to get the details accurate and information the same. Eek, talk about a lot of work. haha.

I was in a little bit of a funk, didn't really want to finish this chapter today, but luckily with the help of a friend, my mood was turned around and I was able to pump this out. I hope you guys like it.

**Feedback is appreciated. Like I said it's a motivating factor, especially on the day's I'm hitting a wall with the writing..like today.

Alright, enjoy this new addition. Let me know what you think/how you feel after reading it. :)

The moment consent left her lips Paige wished she could take it back.

Geez, why did I even say that? This is the complete opposite of what I wanted to happen between us.

But a bigger part of her wanted to see what would happen, so she didn't.

Emily smiled. "Alright, so the question is, how do we get you out of the pool if you don't think you can swim to the wall?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll just use the divider to pull myself to the wall of the pool, duck under the rest of the dividers and hopefully that'll put me right by the stairs over there."

Paige pointed to the stairs that were conveniently located on the same side of the pool as the bleachers and the locker room door.

"If you could just hold these, it'll make it easier for me to have both my hands empty."

Paige held out her goggles and swim cap to Emily flat in her hand.

"Alright, yeah sure."

Emily reached her hand out to take them from Paige, and in doing so, she lightly brushed Paige's palm with the tips of her fingers. Another shock of electricity shot through Paige and she did everything in her power not to flinch in front of Emily. She didn't want Emily to notice the effect she had on Paige.

"Meet you at the stairs? Maybe you could grab some towels?" Paige asked.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. See you in a sec."

On that note, Emily dove down into the water and made her way under the next four dividers that obstructed her path. She didn't surface until she reached the far wall. She placed Paige's goggles and swim cap on the tile in proximity to the stairs.

Paige watched as Emily made her way over to the stairs and ascended up them one-by-one.

Wow. Who am I to be so lucky to have a girl like her giving me the time of day?

Paige had the absolute best view of Emily's ass right now. She had a perfectly cute, rounded, toned butt. And the way her suit was hugging it was enough to make Paige wish she was the suit itself. Anything to be that close and in contact with Emily she thought.

Paige also had a weakness for defined calve muscles, and Emily had those too. Emily's legs were works of art. Works of art that Paige wanted to touch but knew she couldn't and shouldn't. They were amazingly toned, very athletic looking legs.

Damn. This whole avoiding Emily is going to be a lot harder than I thought. Please, just show me one flaw, ONE flaw that will turn me off to you completely.

Paige wasn't so sure Emily would even have one, but she had hoped Emily did, because it allowed Paige to justify her reasoning as to why spending time with Emily was as bad of an idea as she was thinking it would be. Actually, as bad of an idea as she knew it would be.

By now Emily had walked over to the locker room door, she reached for the handle and yanked the door open, disappearing inside shortly after.

Paige started her task of doing the same to exit the pool and had hoped that by the time Emily came back out with the towels, her leg would be feeling back to normal.

She dove under the first divider only to feel that her leg very much disagreed with that method. So to her embarrassment she began to pull herself over the next few. Hoisting herself up with the strength of her arms she pulled herself over them almost effortlessly. She knew for a fact that she probably looked ridiculous.

I probably don't look like too much of a fool. It's probably in my head. Besides she still hasn't come out yet. I think I'm in the clear.

But of course, on the last one she needed to get herself over, she had been in the process of lifting herself up and over just when the locker room door swung open and Emily walked out with two towels in hand.

That's when Paige lost her focus and balance. She came down onto the divider with her stomach and fell forward. Initially, it had caused her to do an almost belly flop, but when she hit the water she had tucked her head and it turned into an underwater front somersault.

She popped up out of the water and shook her head to get her hair out of her face. Her hair had been pulled back, but she still had fly-aways. Reaching up with her hand, she smoothed her hair back and away from her field of vision.

Emily now stood at the edge of pool, towels in hand, bent over howling in laughter.

Of course, she would see that. Awesome. Just awesome Paige. You. Are. On. A. Roll. Today.

"Oh god, how much of that did you witness?" Paige asked as she hobbled her way through the water to the steps.

Emily was still laughing, basically in tears by this point. She couldn't get enough oxygen to even breath, let alone reply to Paige.

Paige grabbed the hand rail, hopped up the next couple of steps and stopped at the top. She had her right hand still on the rail and threw her left hand on her hip. While somewhat glaring at Emily now.

"I warned you that I was clumsy."

And if you weren't so damn distracting.

"OOoooommmyyyyy-gawd. That wa- that was the fun- funniest thing I think I- I've seen in a long time." Emily managed to spit out between gasps of air.

Paige was tomato red by this point. There was no going back. There was no way she could get Emily to un-see what she just saw. At this exact moment, Paige wished she'd had a time machine. She was looking down now at her feet. They were still submerged a few inches of water.

Emily had composed herself a bit better by now.

"Awwhh no, you're totally embarrassed right now, aren't you? Like seriously, don't be. Please don't be embarrassed by me seeing that."

"I'm not embarrassed." Paige stated.

She was looking up at Emily now. Her insta-blush had died down a bit and she mustered every bit of confidence she had in her to ask Emily "So what would you have rated it?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Emily replied, looking a bit confused but Paige could see in her facial expression that Emily had just registered what Paige had asked. It looked to Paige like she had taken Emily by surprise.

"I was wondering what you would have rated my pool trick, had you been judging. Just curious. But if I feel like you've rated me too low, there will be consequences."

Emily started to laugh again. Not as belly deep as before, but more of a laugh of amusement.

"You definitely keep me on my toes McCullers. I am never prepared for what comes out of your mouth sometimes. You're hilarious."

"You didn't answer my question." Paige said matter-of-factly.

"Okay, well..wait a minute, what are the consequences? Emily asked, looking very curiously at Paige.

"That's something you hopefully won't have to find out. So, what'd I earn myself? Besides the title of biggest klutz in and out of the pool."

"Oh stop, it wasn't that bad. And you are definitely not that klutzy. And what I would rate you? HHmmm, let's see. I'd give it a 5 for entry, an 8 for attempt, a 9 for execution, and a 10 strictly because you made me laugh so hard I was in tears. The extent to how much I laugh definitely earns its own category. It kind of looked something between a seal doing a belly flop, failing to conquer a pool lane divider and a mermaid completing a graceful underwater somersault."

"Ouch, a seal? Really? But really a 5 for entry? There's no way."

"Look I'm sorry, but there was quite a bit of splash on that one. My splash-o-meter was off the charts."

Paige still held Emily's gaze. They both realized at that moment how ridiculous this conversation was and both broke down into more laughter.

Paige had most of her weight on her left leg, but in the midst of laughing so hard she shifted a bit onto her right. This caused her to remember why she had been crawling over the dividers in the first place.

Paige winced a bit at the pain her muscle had caused her in that tiny bit of shifting her weight. Emily had noticed.

"Oh right, here, can I help you?" Emily asked.

Paige nodded her head in agreement. Paige took her right hand off the rail and move over a little to the left to make room for Emily. Emily came over to Paige's right side and wrapped her left arm around the small of Paige's back allowing her hand to rest on Paige's left hip. Paige threw her right arm up and around Emily's neck to help support her weight. Emily was just a tad shorter than Paige, but it was like they were a perfect fit; Emily a perfect support.

Paige couldn't believe how close they were to each other right now. They hardly even knew each other. Emily, of course, was just being friendly and helping a "teammate" out and here was Paige, hardly able to stop herself from continuing to check Emily out.

God, Paige, stop. She's just being nice.

"It's just still a bit tight. Definitely still cramped up."

Emily helped Paige up the last step out of the pool and helped walk her over to the bleachers.

"Here, take a seat." Emily instructed.

Lowering herself onto the first bleacher, Paige took a seat. Emily wrapped a towel around Paige and then used hers to wring out her hair after she had released her hair from the bun it had been in. Emily then took a seat next to Paige on her left side.

"Can I help loosen it up a bit?"

"Huh? What?"

Paige, of course, had been so distracted staring at Emily's gorgeous hair that she didn't hear Emily's question. She had been too busy thinking how nice it would be to touch it and run her hands gently through it.

Emily smiled at Paige. "Your thigh, can I help loosen it up? I know a way to massage out the cramp."

"Oh yeah, right. My thigh. Uhh, sure."

Could you be any more awkward Paige?

Paige was honestly surprised Emily was still around. She had no idea why she had a single interest in helping Paige out. Especially not in a manner that required physical contact on a person's upper leg. Letting Emily give Paige a massage was a big step for Paige.

She had never had very much physical contact with many people, and the times that she did, she was always very selective with who could cross her touch barrier. Usually, it consisted of high-fives, brief hugs, or letting someone she'd known for a while lean on her. Often Paige never gave into her urges to show affection to other people. She often thought too much about it, and that caused it to seem more complicated than it, in all reality, was. She just never wanted to be rejected showing affection to someone else, because in a way, that was her, opening herself up to one of her most vulnerable states. So, in many ways, it was easier if she just ruled out that possibility until she felt like someone was really worth the risk.

Letting Emily massage a cramp out of her leg felt like she was skipping a step in her normal routine of getting to know someone. She wasn't particularly comfortable with it, but her leg was still in quite a bit of pain. Besides, the last thing she needed was for her dad to see her limping home after her first practice on the team.

"Okay, so it'll be easier for me if you could actually lay back on the bleacher. Spin your feet towards where I'm sitting. Keep the majority of your right side balanced on the bleacher and let your left leg bend at the knee letting your foot rest on the other side of the bench. It'll help to keep you balanced."

"Okay."

"I'm going to stand up and sort of hover over your leg, I'll have an easier time getting my hands on you that way."

Paige thought to herself how Emily's sentence could mean something completely different if taken out of a completely different context then what she meant. She was slightly embarrassed that she even allowed herself to think such a thing. Emily was just being a friend, nothing more. And her she was thinking non-friend thoughts. It made her feel wrong.

Paige started to feel hot again. Her heart picking up it's rhythm in her chest. Emily stood and Paige folded her towel a few times to create pillow of sorts for her head. She slowly lay back onto the bleacher doing just as Emily had instructed.

"You ready?"

"MMhhhmm."

Emily softly touched Paige's thigh at first but then started to rub her hands in with more of a purpose. Paige curled her head to the side to watch initially, but at her angle Emily's butt was almost directly in her field of vision.

Nope. Better not. Abort. Break eye contact now. It's already bad enough she is giving me a massage, if I stare at her ass the entire time I'll become increasingly more turned on than I already am.

She slowly kneaded and worked Paige's right thigh muscle up to down.

"MMmm." Paige let out a little whimper of discomfort.

"Yeah, sorry, it's not going to feel too good for a bit, but I promise after I'm done it'll feel back to normal, maybe even better. You definitely do feel pretty tight. Like knotted up."

Emily was going with the length of Paige's thigh muscles, working her hands down Paige's thigh. This meant that she had both of her hands wrapped around Paige's thigh focusing most of her pressure to her thumbs which were at the center of Paige's thigh, the tip of her thumbs running vertical with the rest of Paige's leg. Emily left the rest of her digits wrapped on the outsides of her thigh. She maintained a safe distance away from where Paige's leg met her groin. But it was still the closest Paige had ever let anyone allow.

"It's not so bad. But yeah, like you said, still tight."

"The best way to massage out a thigh cramp is to make sure the direction of the strokes of the hands is the same as the thigh muscles. It helps with the blood circulation in the affected part of the muscles and eventually releases the tension from them."

"Oh yeah? Neat. You seem to know your stuff."

"Actually this is the first time I've done this. You're actually the first person I convinced to let me do this."

Paige sat up at hearing this. "No way, are you joking?"

Emily stopped what she was doing and turned around to face Paige.

"Dude, I'm totally messing with you. Lay back down. I've done this for several other people on the team. My Uncle was a physical therapist. He taught me a few tricks. I'm no expert, but this isn't my first time. Really, it was a joke. I promise."

"Yeah, right, if you say so." Paige said in an unsure manner.

Paige was still a little reluctant to lie back down, but Emily's hands started to slowly apply pressure to Paige's shoulders to force her to lie back down. Paige didn't fight it. Emily went back to work rubbing Paige's muscles.

Paige had wondered why Emily said her Uncle was a physical therapist, as in past tense. But she still wasn't very comfortable enough to pry even more into Emily's life then Emily had already allowed.

"No really, I've done this before. It's not that uncommon for swimmers to get cramped up during or after a practice."

Because Paige was trying hard not to stare at Emily's ass while she rubbed out Paige's muscle she closed her eyes to help her zone out a bit, hoping the process would be over before she knew it.

She listened to Emily continue to talk, but didn't have to respond much because Emily just kept filling the gaps of silence with more words. Paige could listen to Emily talk all day long if she could help it.

Paige must have drifted off to sleep at some point shortly after closing her eyes because the next thing she knew she heard someone softly saying her name and felt a hand rubbing her forearm lightly.

Paige's eyes shot open and in a slight panic she ended up rolling off the bleacher and onto the tiled floor. She was now on all fours and staring up at Emily who had a face that seemed to be frozen between worry and laughter.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I tried to wake you as gently as I could. You must have fallen asleep at some point during the massage or am I so boring that I put you to sleep with my ramblings?" Emily questioned with an adorable smile on her face.

"No. No, no far from it. Uh-umm, I mean. Yeah I guess I did fall asleep. Sorry about the panicked wake up. I don't usually do that. I usually wake up very calmly."

Paige brought herself to a standing position now and took a seat back on the bleachers next to where her towel had been folded under her head.

"How long was I out?" Paige asked.

Emily took a seat next to Paige on her left side.

"I don't really know. I was only rubbing your leg for maybe 20 minutes. I guess you got a quick 10 minute nap in or so."

"Right, my leg, holy shit. It's a miracle. It feels great. It doesn't hurt anymore. You're amazing."

"Well, good. I'm glad. I'm here whenever you need me. I can do a pretty good shoulder and back massage too. That one is a fan favorite amongst the rest of the team, especially after meets. Don't hesitate to ask if you need me to loosen you up again."

"I'll be sure to take note of that." Paige replied, but what she was really thinking was that this would be the first and last time Emily massaged her.

Emily and Paige grew silent for a bit. But it wasn't a weird silence at all. It was fitting for the moment, and neither of them was uncomfortable with it.

"So about my earlier proposal…" Emily started.

Oh man, here she goes again.

"You can forget about it. I'll just admit that you probably would have lapped me had practice kept going."

"Haha, what? Giving up so soon? I thought you stopped at no costs to get what you wanted, which reminds me, ..you never disclosed to me earlier, what you wanted. Before we got interrupted."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry about that. That was Marni. We've known each other since we started swim lessons. She doesn't always think about what she does when she does it. Like how it might affect other people."

"No it's fine, don't worry about it. I wasn't offended at all, I could tell she had some important news to tell you. And besides, before my cramped muscle fiasco, I do believe you would have been the winner of that round, as much as it pains me to admit it. Let's call it a draw."

"Yeah, important news for Marni takes the shape of parties half the time. The other half is anything related to the guy she's been crushing on now for a few years. A guy she probably doesn't have a chance with. And really? A draw? I didn't intend for THAT to be the race."

"Haha, sounds like the typical teenage girl. And yep, a draw. But actually, now that I think about it, your magical hands just relieved me of my leg cramp… so in all honesty, I'd say this round goes to you. Therefore, it's Emily: 2, Paige: 1. Based off today's competition, you're the winner."

"Oh you're too kind, I was just trying to help your leg feel better."

"I know, I know. Now don't make me regret giving you that bonus point."

What am I doing?

Paige found herself flirting with Emily. And it was coming all too easy and felt way too natural.

"So does this mean you'll agree to my proposed idea?"

"HHHmmm, yeah, I guess. Oh, but minus the crying myself to sleep part, and only under the conditions that what happened here, today, stays between you and me."

"Which part?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows.

Paige blushed when she thought of the leg massage again. She figured it was best just to forget it happened.

"Umm, that seal-mermaid-flip-trick-thing gone bad, of course."

"WHAT? Oh come on, that was the highlight of my year so far." Emily placed her hand on Paige's knee a lightly gripped it. It was out of playful frustration as far as Paige could judge.

"Well you realize it's still only January right? The year has just begun." Paige said with a mischievous smile.

All she could think about now was Emily's hand on her knee, but she fought every urge in her body to reach down with her own hand and rest it on top of Emily's perfectly light brown skin.

She decided she wouldn't even look down, that way she wouldn't bring attention to it; she was afraid Emily would remove her hand if she caught Paige staring at it.

"Good point, I forgot it's a brand new year already." Emily replied.

Emily had shifted her gaze down at her hand on Paige's knee. Instead of removing it, she slid it a bit further up Paige's leg, about three inches from where her knee was. Something about Paige's leg had Emily's full attention.

Paige, feeling slightly insecure, watched Emily's face with interest.

Emily seemed to have noticed Paige's birthmarks.

Paige had patches of darker skin, close to the color of the outside of a walnut shell, all of them smaller than the size of a regular playing card, which sat on her left upper thigh.

They followed each other in a trail, the first two sat perfectly in the middle of her thigh. The first one was about three inches from the top of her knee. Separated by about an inch of Paige's fairer-skin the second patch sat a little further up her leg, about mid-thigh. The third, further up, sat slightly to the left and the fourth was almost directly on her side, wrapping around, just at the start of her butt.

Emily started to trace the outline of the one closest to Paige's knee with her index finger. The soft touch of Emily's finger tracing an uneven pattern on Paige's leg shot shivers up her spine and caused her to hold her breath. The hair on her arms came to a stand. Goosebumps now covered both arms and she tried everything in her power to will them away.

Emily stopped suddenly, having made it half way around the first marking; she had a look of innocence about her that turned into embarrassment as soon as she realized what she had just done.

Paige watched as Emily's facial expression changed again. It went from embarrassment to a look of sudden realization that she might have just done something she'd regret, as far as Paige could tell.

Emily had both of her hands in her lap at this point. She looked up at Paige and said, "I'm sorry. I uh, -that was totally inappropriate. I've just always admired those kinds of birthmarks. You know how they say freckles are kisses from angels? These are almost as if a few hundred of those little kisses melted together and formed one huge beautiful, almost sloppy, kiss. I just now noticed the few patches on your thigh. I guess when your left leg was bent, supporting you during the massage, I didn't see them. Sometimes I do, or act on, things before I think. I'm sorry."

"I'm more than happy you weren't thinking, in fact I wish you would have kept going", is what Paige wanted to say to Emily, but what she said was,

"Oh, umm. Yeah, I've heard that. But I've never thought of them that way before. Ha. I guess that's essentially what they are though, freckles that kind of just grouped together, forming a larger one. Sloppy angel kisses sound cuter. Don't be sorry. I wasn't weirded out. I have four of them that, as you can see, start just above my knee cap and they work their way back to, -well, to the side of my left butt cheek. My suit covers most of that one up. Ha. I think you're the first person to mention them in a positive light though. So, umm, thanks."

Paige began to blush. For one, Emily noticed and mentioned something about Paige that she felt was very personal, for two, Emily seemed to like them, for three, she didn't know why she just told Emily part of one rested on her left butt cheek.

Crap, that was probably way too much information.

They had been a source of insecurity for Paige in her earlier years of growing up. She had always been hopeful they'd disappear one day when she was older. She'd always just tried to ignore they were there, feeling as though they were blemishes on her skin. She'd had them ever since she could remember and in the summer time they'd get considerably darker then the rest of her skin due to the higher amount of obvious melanin in those four patches. Overall, she was a fair skinned girl who didn't really tan, but didn't really burn in the sun easily either. And because she pretty much grew up wearing a swimsuit, she just chose to ignore them, and had hoped others would too.

"I like them a lot. You can tell a lot of angels must have liked to kiss you." Emily said sweetly, a smile slowly formed by her lips. Lips, that looked very kissable to Paige.

Changing the subject and taking her eyes off of Emily's lips Paige asked "Uh, So, has it been a good one so far, the new year?" Paige asked.

"Ummm, in some ways yes. One way no. But hey, I just met you and I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship. So that's good."

"Did you just try to quote Casablanca?"

"Maaaybee." Emily replied playfully.

"Haha, you may have failed a little bit at it. The line goes, Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"I knew that, but your name isn't Louie and I basically said the same thing, might have substituted a few words for the originals but whatever, don't judge."

"You still butchered it." Paige stated.

"Shut up." Emily squeezed Paige's side at her hearing her remark.

Paige squirmed out of Emily's grasp and started to giggle without any bit of control.

"Ahhh no, Sta- Stop. -I'm super ticklish."

"Oh, are you?" Emily asked with an innocent tone of voice.

"Yes."

"Hmmm note to self, Paige McCullers has a weakness. She's ticklish."

"Yeah, well that's the only weakness I'll let you find out about."

"Well, by my count. That's technically your third. You've already proved yourself to be clumsy and admitted to it as well. You're curious. And I just found out you are ticklish."

"Damn. You're too observant. Stop that." Paige reached over and attempted to poke Emily in the side with her index finger.

Emily was able to grab Paige's finger before it made contact with her side. As soon as she had grabbed Paige's finger, they both locked onto each other's eyes. She held it for a few seconds, which felt like a lifetime to Paige, released it and said, "Careful, I have cat-like reflexes." Then she broke their intense stare by looking down at the watch on her wrist.

Paige laughed at Emily's declaration, and then asked out of curiosity, "What time is it?"

"It's almost six forty-five." Emily answered.

"Shoot, my mom might be here by now. I told her I'd only be another hour when I texted her around five-thirty. I should probably go."

Paige stood up and reached for her towel. It was still neatly folded in place where she had let her head rest when Emily was working on her thigh.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks for keeping me entertained. I had a fun time; we should do this again sometime, minus the muscle cramp."

Emily was still seated, staring up at Paige with hopeful eyes.

"Umm, yeah. Definitely. Thanks again for fixing my leg. You were a godsend."

"Anytime, see you Monday?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, see you Monday." Paige answered.

Paige turned her back to Emily and started walking briskly for the locker room door. If she didn't know better, she never would have guessed her thigh had been causing her so much discomfort earlier. Emily really did have magic hands, she had erased all signs from Paige's leg that it had been cramped up earlier.

Just as she reached out for the handle to the door her foot make contact with the floor mat that sat just outside the door entrance. Paige tripped and fell towards the door. Luckily, she had been in the process of reaching out for the handle, so she was able to grip it and catch herself before completely slamming into the door.

Whew, good save. Damn mat.

Just before she pulled the door open, Emily called out to her.

"Hey, Paige?"

Paige turned her head to the left where Emily's voice had traveled from.

"Yeah?"

"Don't think I forgot about our little deal. It'll be non-negotiable once I decide what to use it on."

If the look on Emily's face was any indication about their future outing, it looked like they'd be up to no good. The thought alone that she had agreed to accompany Emily somewhere both terrified and excited Paige at the same time. The thought that Emily had possibly been plotting something in her head, right now, as Paige had been walking away, just added to the intensity of these feelings.

"Okay, okay. Just use it wisely."

Paige pulled opened the door.

Oh, and Paige?"

"Yes?" Paige replied, peeking her head out from the open door.

"I totally saw that. Good save though." Emily was smiling widely at Paige now.

"I don't know what you are talking about Fields. You're delusional. See you Monday."

Paige called back just before she let the door close with a dull thud behind her.

^^^^^^Emily's POV

"Wow" was all Emily had been able to breathe out just as soon as Paige had disappeared into the locker room.

"Paige McCullers, you are one hot mess." Emily whispered out loud.

As soon as she had allowed her thoughts to leave her mouth, her lips pulled up into one of the biggest smiles she had ever had on her face.